April 7, 2011

Knee socks?

View pic before taking poll.

Knee socks? On a grown woman?
Yes, there are many ways to wear knee socks charmingly.
Yes, if you're just the right person, with just the right style, like her.
Yes, but only if your skirt is super-long and no one can see they're not tights.
No. This is bad. Stop kidding yourself, ladies.
  
pollcode.com free polls

62 comments:

Irene said...

Lolita Olive Oyl.

Original Mike said...

I likey.

themightypuck said...

Obviously 2 is the right answer. Fashion rules are for the rest of us shlubs. People who actually have style can get away with what they can get away with. The reason for a rule of thumb is that you probably can't pull of breaking it. If you can, more power to you. See, for instance, the passive voice.

Synova said...

Beautiful, elegant people look beautiful and elegant in a gunny sack.

Though the knee socks are less proof of that than the draggy sweater and the funny bunched up short top and belt combo.

Pastafarian said...

You left out:

Yes, if you're just the right person, with just the right style, completely unlike her.

It's not working for this woman at all, in my amateur opinion. But I can see where it would work. I'll try to find an example.

themightypuck said...

off

with his head

traditionalguy said...

Knee socks come under a Men's rule similar to Althouse's men in shorts prohibition. Are you children or adults?

Smilin' Jack said...

This is how fashions begin. A woman like that goes out wearing whatever she feels like wearing, and all the other women want to look like her.

PaulV said...

shoes do not go with sox

Unknown said...

Irene said...

Lolita Olive Oyl.

You read my nasty little mind.

I've seen other women who look a lot better in them. The knit skirt is a good first step, but the woman in the picture is just too angular to carry it off.

Sorry

O2BNAZ said...

Sure...she's the right person, with just the right style...if you're Popeye...

traditionalguy said...

The Cheerleader look is a bit of nostalgia for the pre-hippie days. All we need is some tight sweaters and short skirts to make this look come off.

Original Mike said...

You have to have the knees to pull it off.

Chip Ahoy said...

They're fine. Everybody shut up.

ot ↓

But that's it for me. I must stop reading the internets for awhile.

The thing is, today when I laugh at a comment referring to Boehner as 'Weeper of the House," it feels like my ribs are already broken. (press conference upon mentioning the support he got from fellow Republicans)

And then I remember, oh yes, yesterday I probably did break my ribs laughing at Ann Barnhardt saying on iOwnTheWorld that she'd be happy to give Lindsey Graham one of her balls so then he'd have one and she'd still have two. I was NOT ready for that.

Unknown said...

Rough crowd here. :) The look is great, in part because it is very classic. It is cohesive and well thought out with the hat, the shoes, the skirt, and the hairstyle. This is a complete and truely well put together look.

Christopher in MA said...

How about another choice - "no, you're not Annie Hall."

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)

This SCREAMS, "Trooper York"...someone go get him for his "take" and then some photo's of appropriate Knee Socks.

I voted:
"Yes, if you're just the right person, with just the right style" but not like her, but like well...some womyn I have seen. *NUDGE*NUDGE*

Chris said...

Some things will never work. Shoulder pads for women, perms for men. Red leather jackets. Safari shirts. Cowboy hats in urban settings. Keep trying if you don't believe me.

Charlie Martin said...

She's wearing that hat and that skirt and you're looking at her socks?

Dark Eden said...

You left out:

Yes, if you're just the right person, with just the right style, completely unlike her.

Totally agree with this.

Ned said...

Works for a lib...uglier the better.

Synova said...

Oh, poo.

Shoulder pads were *awesome*. So was the *hair*.

And the plastic looking faces and the high waist jeans.

Unknown said...

Strictly depends on the woman. That wasn't her.

The Dude said...

Chip, thanks for posting that - I was working and managed not to read everything posted on the interwebs yesterday.

Boehner is not a well man.

WV: cesse - and desist - you big fucking cry baby.

Col Mustard said...

This is what happens when burqa rules are eased.

Moose said...

"...Ding Dong the Witch is dead, the Wicked Witch..."

Hoosier Daddy said...

This proves my point in that there is plenty of money in America that can be taxed to end the debt and deficit crisis. Anyone who has money to spend on such a horrendous wardrobe has obviously too much disposable income that can be better used by the Federal government.

Lucius said...

The pic isn't oozing sex appeal (for me), but 'sartorially' it feels like a bold and well-thought ensemble.

If anything, I would appreciate just a tad more whimsy--more color, perhaps. Or maybe it's just that her face is too angular for me-- she strikes me as someone who "tries hard".

As far as the socks and the shoes go, I'm quite admiring them though.

wv: 'brooduse' An aesthete broods; a philistine puts to use.

Anonymous said...

Knee socks should only be on girls, aged 10 to 14, and only if they are real cute and have nice looking legs.

Anonymous said...

Support stockings would be much more helpful.

Richard Dolan said...

"Fashion rules are for the rest of us shlubs."

Lovely. The photo is what the best of fashion pix tries to be. She could have stepped out of an (updated) Virginia Wolff or F. Scottie novel. The color combos are great, too -- the very red lipstick is a nice touch, complementing the bag; the black socks work with the skirt, black hat and dark hair; and it's all set off against her very light skin and beige sweater. The way she holds herself, talking on the cell, is a pose of feminine grace.

Fashion 'rules' end up making you look like everyone else; they are for those too disinterested to bother, who mostly see life as a choice between looking bland or looking like a shlub. Fashion is about wearing what works for you. That's what she's doing. The comments in the Sartorialist's thread are also interesting -- a bit of the 'can't wait to get to NYC' stuff, as if this is America's only Dockers-free zone.

Phil 314 said...

I miss these

(and the 'fros too)

tim maguire said...

Where's the choice, "some knee socks can be attractive, but these knee socks are not those knee socks"?

Joe said...

(The Crypto Jew)



My Life Partner informed me that socks like that Phil 3:14 are “Gorky.” I was CRUSHED! I grew up wearing socks like that, playing b-ball thinking, “Man I’m styl’n like the pro’s.” Now, I’m a Gork…well I always was, but even fashion has passed me by. *SIGH*

Alex said...

Hoosier Daddy has a one track mind today. Maybe he should have a tall, stiff bourbon.

Clyde said...

I think she should have a sandwich. Those chunky shoes are the only thing anchoring her to the ground in case of a high wind.

As for her outfit, when nothing matches, then everything matches. She's obviously eclectic and Bohemian, probably works for some sort of NGO, and listens to a genre of music that we're not hip enough to appreciate yet.

xxxxxx said...

She looks like a bag lady.

Simon said...

The look is not attractive, but the problem isn't the socks—it's everything else she's wearing. The socks are fine. They would work better filled out by some actual legs rather than a shrink-wrapped tibia, but the socks are fine.

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...

Knee socks with Daisey Dukes shorts is an eye catcher any time.

Ann Althouse said...

These particular socks with those shoes resemble boots.

Rose said...

Knee socks for kids are hard to find, and expensive when you do find them.

Say what you will, they are wayyyyy nicer than those little cropped right above the shoe line pieces of junk that you find in all the stores now.

I get the feeling socks have been reduced to that for the same reason everything is now short sleeved - same reason tuna cans and ice cream containers and candy bars have shrunk - it's less fabric, cost saving, profit boosting...

But, hey, if you live where it's cold, knee socks are practical, and who cares whether they're fashionable!

Hoosier Daddy said...

They would work better filled out by some actual legs rather than a shrink-wrapped tibia

Word.

Hoosier Daddy said...

Hoosier Daddy has a one track mind today. Maybe he should have a tall, stiff bourbon.

I will be around 7:30. You can take that to the bank.

LordSomber said...

Casual and elegant without looking too hipster-y.

I've always dug knee socks and knee-length skirts.
Yes, I grew up in a Catholic neighborhood.

Methadras said...

I don't even care about the pictures from the Satorialist. Well, I do to a point, but it's the commentariat over there that has my interest. I've never seen a sycophantic group in my life than the ones over there.

Roux said...

Where's Popeye?

reader_iam said...

So long as they weren't the boxy, line-backerish shoulder pads, I found them quite handy in order to get things to fit and hang better, back when I was wearing suits a lot. (This can be true if you have narrow shoulders, and even more so if you have narrow shoulders and aren't flat.) If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: Almost NEVER does "one-size[style]-fits-all" work in real life.

Marilee said...

Abby Sciuto looks great in knee socks.

Chennaul said...

I was once spanked by the Mother Superior with a pointer for wearing the wrong color.

They allowed that same color the next year.

I've been messed up ever since.

Oh and then there was the time I came in from recess, playing with this toy and she ripped the ball off it and spanked me with my own paddle.

Then there was the time I vomited in the middle off...oh forget it.

I use to speak Japanese back then too...can you say freak?

( I really hate this topic..heh.)

Chennaul said...

And then they tried to make me right handed-I've been dyslexic ever since.

Chennaul said...

It's weird how the Japanese didn't care about that....

OK I think I'm done.

Freeman Hunt said...

I like them. I don't wear them, but I like them.

Anonymous said...

It is 100% guaranteed that the woman in the picture is completely hairless.

Peter

rhhardin said...

Style is not worth the effort.

veni vidi vici said...

On a grown woman, knee socks only look good when worn while the legs are up, toes pointed to the ceiling, and they are the sole garment (although a silk scarf could be an intriguing accessory.

Otherwise, nah.

And as for the gal in the pic, that's an awful lot of cheap-assed American Apparel-looking haberdashery she's portin' in that outfit. It really does feel more and more like 1979-81 in America, across the board.


wv: "arces" -- Ladies wearing only kneesocks should git their arces over to my place pronto.

RichM said...

Posted this at Sartorialist:
"I cannot for the life of me believe comments here saying how original & chic this is when we've all seen it before. My first impression: an Audrey Hepburn body in Granny Clampett's wardrobe."

Jeff Wilson said...

I thought heroin chic was out, as fashion goes. Guess not.

spool32 said...

Abbie, from NCIS.

Case. CLOSED.

Anonymous said...

They're called trouser socks and they belong under trousers.

Anonymous said...

It really does feel more and more like 1979-81 in America, across the board.

Not quite. Back then, adult women actually looked like adult women. Not like pre-pubescent little girls, as they do today.

Peter

reader_iam said...

Peter:

OTOH, pre-pubescent little girls tended to look like pre-pubescent girls. Hell, pubescent girls tended to look like pubescent girls. Neither, for the overwhelming most part, tended to look like women.

So maybe it's supposed to be a wash, in some way or another, however weirdly unfathomable?

Or weirdly fathomable, for that matter.

Celia Hayes said...

Ehh ... she's got the sort of build that looks good in most clothes available on the market. Hell, she can wear a skirt with horizontal stripes and not look like something that ought to be accompanied with a flag vehicle and a warning sign saying 'wide load. But she doesn't look 'put together' - she looks thrown together, as if someone had just grabbed random items from the closet, thrown them at her and she dressed in the dark. It doesn't look the least bit chic to me ... it looks random.